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[Page 241]

Mülhausen, Germany

Town in Hochstadt a. d. Aisch.

Population:

Year

No of Residents

of them Jews

%

1709

-

9 (families)

1809-10

741

178 (persons)

24.0

1811-12

758

187

24.7

1867

1212

150

12.4

1880

1206

112

9.3

1890

1086

111

10.2

1900

1029

77

7.5

1910

1035

66

6.4

1925

1026

52

5.1

1933

977

43

4.4

4.11.1938

-

27

1939

912

28

3.1

1.4.1942

-

4

25.4.1942

-

2

8.8.1942

-

0

Religious Classification in % in 1933:

Jews

Catholics

Protestants

4.4

9.2

86.4

Community History

We know about Jews in Muelhausen in the first half of the 17th century. During the Thirty Year War (1648-1618) the suffered great suffering and in 1631 they escaped to nearby Hochstadt. What this city was attacked by the Swedish in January 1632, the Jews of Mühlhausen found refuge in its fortress. In the revolts in the region in 1699, the mob destroyed the homes of the Jews of Mühlhausen while the city guards stood by to watch without doing a thing.

At the beginning of the 18th century the Mühlhausen Jewish cemetery was established (the oldest tombstones dating back to 1739); the community memorial book was started in 1711*. The local synagogue was also built during that same period; with a huppa stone dating 1756.

In 1868 the community opened a primary school and hired a teacher. In 1907 the Jews of nearby Lonnerstadt and Vestenbergsgreuth were added to the Mühlhausen community.

Due to the shrinking community, the primary school was closed in 1920 by the government; the teacher continued to work in the community as a teacher of religious studies, a slaughterer and a Cantor. Due to the difficult financial situation, the community contacted all its members who had moved to other locations and asked for monetary donations needed for the continued existence of the community and its institutions. The response was great and a significant amount was raised (more than 47,000 Marks).

In 1926 the community was added to the Rabbinate of the Bamberg Regional Rabbinate.

Under Nazi Rule (1933-1938)

In 1933 the Mühlhausen community was under the supervision of the Bamberg regional rabbinate and had a synagogue (renovated in 1832) with an apartment for the teacher and a hall for cultural activities. Since 1920, Theodor Bruckheim stood as the head of the community, running the community and its institutions very successfully despite the big difficulties.

In March 1936, unknown persons broke windows in the homes of two of the local Jews.

The last register in the Mühlhausen community registry was written on April 30, 1938.

The Process of the Destruction of the Community

Year

Left

Emigrated

Deported

1938

3

5

1939

9

9

1940

1

1942

1

25.4.1942

2

9.9.1942

2

Total

12

16

4

The Holocaust

A group of SS arrived in Mühlhausen during the morning hours of November 10, 1938 after carrying out riots on the Jews of Adelsdorf. The rioters broke into the synagogue through a window and destroyed the furniture and tools. The religious items were taken out to the market square and burned. Groups of rioters broke into the homes of 15 local Jewish families, broke down doors and windows and destroyed the furniture and dishes. Mühlhausen Jews were arrested and send to Dachau together with the Jews of Forchheim and Adelsdorf. All events were carried out with the agreement and cooperation of the local S.A. (Sturmabteilungen).

Almost all the gravestones in the Mühlhausen Jewish cemetery were pulled up and broken on the night of May 14, 1939. In November of the same year local residents carried out Einzelaktionen (individual acts) against the local Jews in reaction to the assassination attempt on Hitler's life on November 9th in Munich.

During the years 1938-1942, 28 Jews left Mühlhausen. Of the 16 Jews who emigrated, 11 went to the United States, three to England, one to Italy and one to an unknown location. Of the 12 who moved to other locations in Germany, three moved to Munich, three to Frankfurt a. Main and three to Mannheim. Eight died in Mühlhausen.

On April 25, 1942, two Jews of Mühlhausen were deported through Würzburg to Izbica near Lublin and on August 7th that same year, two Jewish women from Mühlhausen were sent to Bamberg. As it seems, they were deported a month later (September 9) to Theresienstadt together with the Jews of Bamberg.

No Jews returned to Mühlhausen after the war.

The Jewish cemetery is under the care of the Bavarian Union of Jewish Communities and the Mühlhausen municipality.

During the months April  May, 1949, 19 rioters from the riots of November 1938 were tried in the Bamberg regional court. Eighteen were sentenced to incarceration of three months to four years and one was acquitted.